COLUMN: Duke not satisfied with being Cinderella

DURHAM – The success of the Duke football team might be a feel-good Cinderella story to those around the country that don’t know any more than what they’ve seen of the Blue Devils in the past.

Coach David Cutcliffe wants nothing to do with that narrative. And he told his players so when they got into the locker room at halftime clinging to a one-point lead against No. 23 Miami on Saturday.

“When you’re leading by a point and you’ve been like we’ve been, sometimes your tendency is ‘boy, I wish this game would get over and we could win,’” Cutcliffe said. “I told them ‘I don’t want you to do that. You’re too good to do that.’”

Instead, he told his team – especially the 11 seniors on the two-deep playing their final game at Wallace Wade Stadium – to go out and make the most of every minute that’s left in the second half.

Proving that they’re just as coachable as they are talented, the Blue Devils did just what they were told. They didn’t hold on for dear life. They took the game right to the higher-rated Hurricanes and dominated both sides of the ball in pulling away for a 48-30 win that put them in full control of the ACC’s Coastal Division.

Duke (8-2, 4-2 ACC) needs only to win its final two regular season games at Wake Forest and North Carolina to win the division title and secure a spot against Florida State in the league championship game on Dec. 7.

No matter what happens over the next two weeks, this has been a season to celebrate for the Blue Devils. And they weren’t about to waste the opportunity Saturday. Not only was Cutcliffe given the traditional Gatorade shower, but as quarterback Anthony Boone took a knee and the clock ran out, the entire student section streamed out of the stands and onto the field to revel in the moment.

“(It was) a great tribute to what those guys, fourth and fifth and our sixth-year senior have done in their careers,” Cutcliffe said.

This wasn’t the first time some of those upperclassmen have participated in such a celebration on the field at Wallace Wade Stadium during Cutcliffe’s six year tenure at Duke.

The difference is that unlike the first in 2008 – when the Blue Devils broke a 25-game ACC losing streak — Saturday’s festivities commemorated a moment of triumph rather than an end to futility.

And the ride isn’t over yet.

“This game means, to me, what Coach (Cutcliffe) has been preaching about for the four years I’ve been here,” redshirt junior offensive guard Laken Tomlinson said. “He told me he was creating a program here and I believed him.

“I had 100 percent confidence that we would be here one day. Now we’re finally here. It’s part of the plan.”

Just don’t think the Blue Devils are doing it with smoke and mirrors.

Though the national media is likely to latch onto the “cute little Cinderella team” storyline over the next couple of weeks – especially if the wins keep coming – this Duke team is anything but that.

Its offensive line blew the Hurricanes off the line with such regularity that the Blue Devils’ quarterbacks needed only throw the ball a combined nine times in the second half. The duo of Brandon Connette and Anthony Boone combined with three interchangeable backs to pile up 358 smashmouth yards on the ground.

Duke was just as physical on the other side of the ball in holding the supposedly bigger, more athletic Hurricanes to a single second half touchdown.

“People look at us as a team with a lot of smart guys,” said running back Josh Snead, who led the way with 138 yards on nine carries. “We’re at Duke and we play football here.”

Big boy football.

The kind that’s traditionally played at places like Miami. And Virginia Tech. And all those other teams looking up at the Blue Devils in the Coastal Division standings.